I was given the opportunity to try two best sellers from french skincare line Nuxe.

I was particularly looking forward to trying their lip balm because I am constantly on a lookout for a lip balm that will keep my super dry lips happy (and compatible with my matte lipstick fetish). I’ve heard so many people rave about this product and it’s reached cult status amongst the beauty blogging community. They say that a pot of Nuxe Rêve de Miel sells every 28 seconds.

Nuxe Rêve de Miel ($19.95) is a beeswax based balm featuring honey, sweet almond oil, shea butter, and grapefruit extract. It also uses silicones in it’s formula, which gives it a matte velvety finish, and makes it a rather excellent lip primer. Because it is matte, it can be used past the lip line, which is great for people with dry skin or dermatitis around the lips. The consistency is unusual- it is very thick and a little waxy- but applies smooth once on the lips.

On my lips it’s better than the average lip balm, but not as good as my favourites for hydrating chapped lips (Jack Black and People for Plants balms). Given how well it works for the vast majority of lips, you probably have a good chance that it performs more impressively as a balm on you than it does on me. The stand out feature for me, however, is the way that Rêve de Miel doubles as a lip primer- if you apply a small amount on the lips and just past the lip line, it works very well in keeping your lipstick looking fresh and preventing your lip colour from bleeding. OCC Lip Tars are the worst when it comes to bleeding past the lip line, and I’ve always had to run the edge of a tissue along my lip line through the day when wearing these- until now!

Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse ($39.95) is a multipurpose ‘dry’ oil for face, body, and hair. It is a lightweight oil that you mist onto your skin or hair, and leaves a subtle sheen and fragrance. I like using this as a skin ‘finishing spray’ before heading out to give my skin a bit of dewiness, and it since it’s so lightweight it works in summer too. I love how easy it is to apply, and how quickly it absorbs- I can mist harder to reach areas like in between my shoulder blades, and not have to work to rub it in. For me it isn’t rich enough to replace a regular body moisturiser after the shower, so it’s an extra step that I typically will only do if I’m going out.

The fragrance of Huile Prodigieuse is fairly prominent, and tends to stick around for awhile after applying so this might be an awesome perk if you like the scent. I would advise giving this a sniff before purchasing just in case you don’t.

Huile Prodigeuse is petrolatum free and does not use propylene glycol- it does contain silicones though, so if you are sensitive to ‘cones on your face you might want to keep to using this on your body and hair.[EDIT: I’ve been advised that I’ve looked at the wrong ingredient list, and there are NO SILICONES in the Huile Prodigeuse. I’ve amended my list. Apologies!]

Shizen’s products are petroleum and mineral oil free. This means they are free from petrochemical ingredients like triethanolamine (TEA), diethanolamine (DEA), paraffin, behentrimonium chloride and petrolatum. These ingredients are a by-product in the distillation of petroleum to produce gasoline or petrol. In cosmetics they are known to be a great barrier, but don’t penetrate the skin and don’t add moisture. You can easily recognise it in lip products as it’s greasy and very slippery to touch. Shizen’s products are made free from these ingredients, and are made with only all natural, superior quality butters, waxes, vitamins and botanical extracts. So Shizen’s products provide an excellent barrier to protect your lips from the environment, and also provide moisture to your skin. Not slippery and ever so moisturising.

Hi guys!

As you know, I’m always on the lookout for petrolatum free lip balms for my needy lips. Some time last year, I heard about the Shizen range from the lip balm addict/guru Anissa from Beautifully Glossy blog and was intrigued.

The last few months I’ve been trialling their Lip Gloss Conditioner and their Tinted Lip Conditioner and have been delighted by both products.

The Shizen Lip Gloss conditioner is packaged in a cute apothecary style pot. It has a buttery balmy texture and a gorgeous citrus, lemongrassy scent – in fact, if you are a fan of the John Masters lip balm, you will love this. Fairly moisturising but I do find that when my lips are at their worst they still prefer the Jack Black balms.

The Shizen Lip Tint Conditioner is a sheer but buildable fuschia pink tinted lip balm. I’ve gone over my lips a few times to get the intensity of colour for the swatch and FOTD. It has similar hydrating properties to the Lip Gloss Conditioner in the pot.

If it weren’t for the fact that I am a blogger (oh the sacrifices that I make for this blog! lol) I would order a lifetime’s worth of Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balms and use nothing else on for the rest of my days.

When I first tried Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm in Natural Mint (reviewed here) I was totally blown away by how great it felt on the lips and how it really managed to heal and deeply hydrate them. It’s my HG by far (replacing my previous HG lip balm, which was the Bobbi Brown Lip Balm SPF)

Since then, I have bought two new flavours from Sephora.com – Black Tea & Blackberry, and Grapefruit & Ginger. And about 5 Natural Mint backup tubes

Jack Black Lip Balm Grapefruit and Ginger, Black Tea and Blackberry

Besides not having the tingly minty buzz of Natural Mint, the texture and performance of the two new Jack Black Balms are pretty much identical to Natural Mint. They all have a longlasting cushiony, ointment feel. All winners.

Black Tea and Blackberry– the fragrance of this is quite subtle, and reminds me of the scent of loose black tea leaves with no detectable sweetness. I would imagine this flavour appealing to lots of guys (in fact, my tube has been pinched by my friend Ken)

Grapefruit and Ginger– this smells to me mostly of sweet citrus candy, with hardly any detectable ginger scent. I was hoping for something a bit more grownup, and with a little more complexity but I guess you can’t have everything!

I have ordered a tube of the Jack Black Balm in Lemon & Chamomile as well as Vanilla & Lavender, which I should have in my hot little hands very soon. (and a million more backups of Natural Mint muahaha)

I’ve been curious about the Yes To range of products after reading Karen’s glowing reviews on Makeup and Beauty Blog , more so recently because I’ve been paying much more attention to the ingredients in my lip care and actively seeking brands that have a more natural focus.

So as you can imagine, I was delighted to be given the opportunity to trial some lip products in the Yes to Carrots range.

About the brand..

FOUNDED IN 2006, Yes To is a consumer-inspired line of hair and skin products born out of a desire to make you look and feel your most happy and radiant. Yes To combines high-quality organic fruits and vegetables with a special mineral elixir derived from the Dead Sea to nourish and hydrate naturally. [from website]

Yes To Carrots Melon Lip Butter

Like the rest of the Yes To Carrots range, this lip balm uses lovely ingredients like Coconut oil, Shea Butter, and true to it’s name- Carrot Root Extract. Carrot Root Extract is very high in vitamin A precursers and vitamin E.

This balm is fairly moisturising on the lips (richer than the Burt’s Bees lip balms, and similar to Badger Balm which I reviewed earlier) and has a modest wear time of about 30mins before I feel the need to reapply. Normal-> mild dry lips would absolutely love this, very dry lipped individuals may prefer something a little heavier/richer.

Oh and the yummy melon smell of this lip balm is very, very addictive.

Size: 4.25g / 0.15 oz.

price: $5.95

bare lips with Yes To Carrots Melon lip butter

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Yes To Carrots Lip Tint ‘Sunset Pink’

This is my favourite out of the 3 Yes To Carrots lip products, and the one that I will run out and repurchase when I finish this tube.

Colour…

The Lip Tints are basically a tinted balm. After applying this for the first time I was blown away by how gorgeous the peachy rose shade is, and how it just brightens up my face and is pigmented enough to take the ‘corpse’ purple out of my natural lip colour (compare against the first lip photo).

In fact, I would even go so far as to say that it is a (slightly peachier) balm version of Chanel Rouge Coco ‘Mademoiselle’ ! I kid you not.

Texture…

‘Sunset Pink’ glides on like butter, and feels very lightweight on the lips. It is moderately moisturising, and has a wear time of about 45mins. It has a mintiness to it from the peppermint oil in the balm which I absolutely LOVE.

I find it amusing that the BEST LIP BALM I HAVE EVER COME ACROSS was designed for men.

Jack Black Intense Lip Therapy is some seriously amazing stuff. If you’ve read my previous lip balm posts you’d know all about how much I struggle with dry lips and how frustrating it is that balms that seem to do the job for other girls just didn’t seem to work for my lips. This balm was recommended to me by the ridiculously gorgeous Holly (of Beatideas.)

This lip balm is intensely hydrating, and seems to ‘penetrate’ the skin rather than just sitting on my lip surface- so that even after the balm has worn off, my lips feel healthier and softer. It stays on my lips for a decent amount of time (a good hour or so) before I need to reapply.

There is a minty scent, and a cooling tingling sensation with this balm which I now find quite pleasant.

Jack Black Intense Lip Therapy is conveniently packaged in a small squeeze tube, and the texture of the lip balm is halfway between ointment and gel so it spreads easily even on bitterly cold mornings.

Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 Mint

Another important advantage of this balm is that it has SPF 25, which is more SPF than found in the majority of lip balms. And of course, as the title of this post suggests- it is petrolatum free.

I purchased this tube from Sephora.com through a mail forwarding service, and have ordered a few backups in the original mint flavour- as well as their new flavours Grapefruit and Ginger, Black Tea and Blackberry.